Holly Humberstone returns with Cruel World, out April 10th on indie exclusive pearl white vinyl, and selected as Record Store Day’s Album of the Month. It follows on from her 2023 debut with the same honest, close-up songwriting, but this time things feel a little more settled, and a little more sure of themselves. As Holly puts it, “My eleven-year-old self would be buzzing. I think she’d say, ‘You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.’”


The album sits in that mid-20s in-between, moving on from people, places and past versions of yourself without everything fully making sense yet. Holly describes it as “shedding old skin,” and that sense of moving on runs through the record. It leans into that in-between stage without overthinking it. As she puts it, “In a world that feels hyperreal and harsh, we wanted to create something fun, detached, nostalgic and magical.”

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